Don't Come to Tanzania a South Paw

Hujambo!  Habaria gani? 
I have made it to Tanzania and absolutely LOVE it!  We arrived at the Msimbazi Center late Wednesday night and got a quick lowdown on safety, security and malaria.  The Msimbazi Center is a compound run by Catholic nuns within Dar-es-Salaam.  It comes complete with an orphanage, church, bars, an internet cafe, and MANY weddings.  We're talking weddings EVERY night, and they know how to party.

We have been getting adjusted to life in TZ which includes: chai every day and sometimes served with a hot dog, learning how to properly use the choo complete with a demonstration, huge beers for $1, chicken gizzards and fried everything, jet lag, laughing at each others mistakes, loud gatherings, and Coca-cola by the bottled glass.  An important part I learned was that being left handed can get in the way.  In Tanzania we don't have the porcelin god, we have a choo.  We also don't have toliet paper, we have a bucket of water and our left hand.  Therefore, no matter how much I clean my hands, it is looked at as dirty to eat, give, or receive with your left hand.  Being a dominate south paw is difficult to say the least.

Sasa ninajifunza kwa Kiswahili.  I can't believe how much Swahili I have learned in just 3 short sessions.  I held a long conversation with a nun this morning and she thought I'd been here since June.  I also practiced talking to a young boy yesterday and we started playing catch with a bottle cap.  All was well and we were laughing until his parents came by to get him (they were planning a festival nearby) and he started to cry.  So yea, I definietly already made a little kid cry.  When his mom said, 'Sawa, Kwaheri'/'Okay, Goodbye' and began to pretend to leave him, he just looked at me and smiled.  So she laughed, came back, picked him up, and the tears came a flowin'!

I also know enough Kiswahili now to make some of my infamous lame jokes.  There are cats all over the center, as they help maintain the rat problem (yes, I'm definitely getting a cat when I'm on site).  Cats cost lest than $1 here and just as much to get all of their shots.  Pretty cheap to keep me rat free for 2 years, now all I need are name suggestions.  As I was walking with other trainees through the courtyard we saw one and instead of saying 'Paka' or 'cat,' I said 'Mtoto Simba,' which means 'young lion.'  I know, I'm hilarious.

Yesterday we learned about our host families and CBT (Community Based Training).  Peace Corps loves their acronyms.  I will be in a CBT with 5 others in a village near Muheza in the Tanga region.  My host family has had a PC before, and my Baba is said to be the 'sweetest man on Earth' and very tall.  I don't know much else other than I'll have a Dada (sister) and Mama.  I will also be jirani (neighbors) with one of my fellow CBTs, so I will have a male to escort me on my runs in the morning. 

We leave for our host families tomorrow, so this will be goodbye for a while.  I absolutely love this country and learning everything about it.  Ninapenda kujifunza Kiswahili!  Our training group is wonderful and I feel really lucky with the people in my CBT.  It is only up from here!

Salama.
Kwaheri!

Health and Environment Class 2011-2013.

We look so clean!